


New Faces

by Falco_Player



Category: Super Smash Brothers
Genre: Gen, Pre-release Smash Switch
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-03-27
Updated: 2018-07-31
Packaged: 2019-04-13 18:13:15
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 5
Words: 16,307
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14118069
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Falco_Player/pseuds/Falco_Player
Summary: Master Hand has started recruiting for the fifth generation of Smashers. With that comes new residents for Smash Mansion, a few visitors, and their interactions with the veteran Smashers. This story is also available on Fanfiction.net.





	1. Inkling Confirmation

Ace gripped her Splattershot as she waited outside the door of Smash Mansion. It was a massive ornate building and the land around it was no disappointment either. She could tell that the plants in the gardens had all been well attended to, just like the logo right above the door. Even the parking lot right behind her looked well maintained. The door to the mansion opened, on the other side was the one who had invited Ace. "Yo Master Hand you kept me waiting there," Ace said.

"Apologies," the hovering disembodied right hand said. Ace didn't bother questioning where his voice came from. She was too busy trying to hide the fact that Master Hand still weirded her out. "Come on in, the other Smashers are all gathered in the dining hall." Ace held her Splattershot at her side and grabbed the bag with her belongings (that was somehow vastly bigger on the inside than the outside) using her other hand as she followed Master Hand inside.

Everything in the mansion seemed too high class for Ace's taste. She prefered the kind of place where people didn't mind a little ink on the walls. In contrast Master Hand had made it so that any ink not being used for movement would be automatically cleaned up. The entry hall featured two large curving staircases that led up to the second floor and curved again in a spiral towards the third floor, between them was the door to the rest of the first floor. Paintings decorated the walls and there was even a chandelier. Master Hand gave an explanation of the mansion layout that Ace was only partially listening to as they walked to the dining hall.

Ace put on her game face when she walked into the dining hall. There were around five long tables that formed a loose pentagon shape, with all of the veteran Smashers sitting at them. Master Hand had told her to expect the strange but Ace hadn't expected to see humans in the mix of strange creatures. She was no history buff but even she knew about the ancient species that once ruled the Earth. "Everyone I'd like to introduce the first fighter of our fifth generation, Ace the Inkling," Master Hand said. "She's the first fighter to represent her world so expect to see some new decorations and the like in the mansion. At five there will be a concert with a popular singer duo from her world, the Squid Sisters. Now I have to get back to paperwork." Master Hand vanished in a puff of smoke, leaving Ace in entirely unknown turf.

Before Ace could size up the other Smashers a short man wearing blue overalls and a red hat approached. "Nice to meet you Ace. I'm Mario from the Mushroom Kingdom. Welcome to the Smashers," the man said. He extended a gloved hand to Ace, she accepted it. She could tell that he was a team player, the type to lead the charge into enemy turf but also the type to come to a teammate's rescue at a moment's notice. Years of competition had taught her how to size up teammates and rivals with a quick look.

"Thanks. I hope I get along with all of you guys," Ace said. Mario returned to his seat and the other Smashers at Mario's table moved to make room for her. Her spot was between Mario and a blonde haired human man wearing a blue shirt. Ace put her bag at her feet and carefully put the Splattershot into it. Directly across from Ace was an even shorter yet still adult looking human with brown hair and a red shirt that had the number one on it. The table was filled with a large variety of food, some of which Ace hadn't seen before. She started by grabbing a bowl of vegetable soup. "So what are you names?" Ace asked as she picked up her spoon.

"My name is Peach, I'm from the same world as Mario," a blonde haired woman in a pink dress said. She was sitting directly across from Mario. Peach was the supporting type without a doubt, her tone of voice said everything. "This is V," Peach gestured to the human sitting across from Ace, "and that's Link," Peach pointed to the blue shirted human. Ace noticed Link had pointed ears, maybe he wasn't human like she thought he was?

"Cool," Ace said. "Man this soup is fresh. You guys must have a great cook." Ace snatched some mushroom rice balls to put on her plate and looked for other food items to grab.

"I made it," Link said. He said it so quietly Ace wondered if he had wanted anyone to hear it. She could tell that Link wasn't a pushover but he didn't seem assertive either. A good follower but not much of a leader. Still he wasn't the kind of person she would complain about having on her team.

"Thanks for making it then," Ace said. Link gave a slight nod, one that would have been difficult for Ace to notice without the awareness beaten into her by countless hours of Turf War and other Inksports.

"He doesn't like to talk most of the time," Peach explained. "I also helped with some of the food. Do you like cooking too?"

"Nah most I can make for myself is instant noodles. Usually I just snag some food in Inkopolis Plaza before running to a match," Ace said.

"Sounds like you're used to competition. What do you compete in?" Peach asked.

"Oh you know, some Turf War and whatever ranked Inksport is open at the moment," Ace said. When she got blank looks in return she nearly pulled up her Splattershot. She had to stop herself and remember it wasn't that kind of screw up. Hoping nobody noticed she dropped the Splattershot back into the bag. "Right, Master Hand said I shouldn't assume you guys know anything. See Inksports are... " Ace stopped herself. She had dedicated years of her life to Inksports, why was she struggling to explain them? "They're…" Peach nudged the Smasher to her right while Ace kicked her legs together under the table.

"Inklings like her have the power to generate ink and use it as ammunition for weapons, Inksports are when they fight each other using ink powered weapons. Turf War is the simplest and most popular of the Inksports." Ace's savior was a strange white bipedal creature with a purple tail. Despite the gratitude Ace felt she didn't like the aura he gave off, it was intimidating. Peach reminded him that he hadn't introduced himself yet. "My name is Mewtwo. I used my psychic powers to get that information, normally I refrain from that tactic."

"Thanks and sorry about that, guess I've been competing in them for so long it's hard for me to explain Inksports," Ace said. She flicked one of the tentacles hanging off the side of her head and grabbed a Crusty Seanwich to eat. Seanwichs were her usual post-defeat food.

"Do you want to go into town once you get everything unpacked?" V offered. Ace had nearly forgotten he was there. Things were starting to fall apart.

"Sure, scoping out the place sounds fun. Maybe I'll grab some new gear too," Ace responded. She quickly devoured the Crusty Seanwich and picked up her bag from the floor. "So which way to my room? The hand only said that it was sorted by 'generation.'"

"It should be on the third floor, the stairs are on your right once you leave this room," Peach said. Ace thanked Peach and took off from the dining hall. She slowed down as she ascended the staircase. I can't let the fact that these guys are from other worlds throw me off guard ever again, even if a good number of them come from a species that's extinct in mine. Most of them still don't know me so my rep is still mostly intact, Ace thought to herself. Crap, what if that Mewtwo guy can hear this? No he said he doesn't do that kind of stuff normally. Enough with the paranoia.

Once Ace reached the third floor she saw that someone had helpfully and hastifully scribbled directions on the wall. It reminded her of the grafiti from Inkopolis Square. Her room was right next to a balcony that let her see the garden and large lake behind the mansion. She dropped her bag by the door and ran out to the balcony. It was large enough to have couches and a table with plenty of room to spare. Ace looked around and spotted a hangar on the left side of the mansion. More importantly there were three Inkrails that had one end on the balcony. One led to the lower floors, another to the hangar, and the third went towards the lake.

After snapping a picture of the view with her phone and heading back inside Ace pulled out the key to her room and opened the door. It had plenty of room for Ace to pace when she got restless. The walls were white like an empty canvas and the bed was in a corner. Another thing Ace liked about the bed's position was the window she could look out from even while lying down. On the bed was a note from Master Hand telling her she was free to customize the room in any non-deadly or otherwise harmful way she liked. She didn't want to know the story behind why the non-deadly part had to be specified.

Ace started by pulling out her Tri-Slosher from the bag. She used it to throw ink onto the wall, changing the colors between each splash. When she was done the walls were coated with a chaotic mix of differently colored ink. Ace went back to the doorway and looked around the room, her bed was in the back left corner so the weapons would go on the right wall. She pulled out all of the wall hooks and weaponry she brought with her and placed them all over the wall. Next on the unpacking list was her gear, which the closet gradually expanded on the inside to accommodate. Once again Ace decided the obvious question wasn't worth bothering with. Then she unpacked the basic necessities in her private bathroom while appreciating the fact that she had one. She decided to leave the rest of the unpacking for when she had some furniture.

N-Zap 89' in hand Ace ran out of her room. She quickly backtracked to lock the door. Ace fired at the Inkrail leading to the lower floors as she ran towards it. With a leap she changed into her squid form and rode it down to the patio. She dashed into and through the mansion, running past some Smashers who had just left lunch with a quick shout of 'hey.' That was the kind of stuff she wanted them to see. V was waiting for her at the entry hall.

"How do you like your room?" V asked.

"It's pretty good. Just need to get some furniture for it with that discount Master Hand mentioned before I can unpack everything, I'm so not putting my computer on the floor," Ace said. She opened the door and walked out of the mansion. "Which car are we taking? Actually just to make sure, you can drive right? I'm still too young to have a license," Ace said.

"I can drive," V said. They walked together to one of the cars. Ace pulled out her phone as V started up the car and got on the road. Just like Master Hand had promised Ace's phone had been updated to include information on Smash Mansion and the surrounding area. There was even a chatroom for the Smashers.

"What are some good stores in Smashville?" Ace asked as she scrolled through the list of stores on her phone.

"I get all of my furniture from T&T Emporium, we should go there first," V said. Ace looked out the window. She wasn't used to taking in such green and peaceful scenery. Usually if she was out of Inkopolis it was because she had either super jumped to a battlefield for some Inksports or was doing part time work for Grizzco. It wasn't like there was much land left to admire in her world anyway. Ace thought about all of the things she would have to explain to the Smashers. She tried coming up with different explanations of things like the Octarians and Splatfests in her head to avoid a repeat of that debacle at lunch.

V parked the car near T&T Emporium, he and Ace hopped out of the car. Ace was surprised by how few people there were. Towns were even smaller than she thought. V greeted a few villagers as they walked to the store. Ace noticed that everyone addressed him as mayor. "So why didn't you tell me that you were the mayor earlier?" Ace asked.

"I don't like bragging. While we're on the subject Peach didn't mention it but she's a princess," V said as they walked into the store.

"Really? I mean it's not bragging if you actually are the mayor or a princess," Ace responded. She looked around T&T Emporium in wonder as they walked up the stairs to the second floor. Ace liked large stores but most of the time she shopped at the Galleria because of the convenient location. After they got to the second floor she ran over to the first desk she saw and examined it before making the purchase. Before V could catch up to her she was already dashing to a lamp.

Timmy, the anthropomorphic raccoon clerk for the second floor, was able to slow down Ace with an introduction long enough for V to catch up. "Do you have any of those fresh spinny chairs Timmy?" Ace asked.

"Yes, yes, let me show you the way," Timmy said. Following the purchase of the spinning chair Ace bought two shelves and got talked into buying a rug. Timmy set up the furniture to be delivered to Ace's room and bid farewell to Ace and V.

"You know I was planning on getting some new clothes but I've bought enough stuff for today," Ace said as they descended back to the first floor. A tall man with dark, somewhat greenish skin that Ace recognized from the dining hall walked into the store right as Ace stepped off of the stairs. He seemed like the selfish type, the kind who cared more about splatting enemies than the actual objective.

"Hi Ganondorf," V said.

"Greetings. Escorting the newcomer around town?" Ganondorf's voice was deep and more composed than Ace expected. He was also giving Ace the same analytical look she had given to everyone.

"Yeah, he is," Ace said. "Nice to meet you Ganondorf." Ace shook his hand. Even if she was cautious of him being polite was generally the optimal strategy when meeting new people. The clerk for the first floor, who Ace assumed was the twin of the second floor's clerk due to their identical appearance, ran over to them.

"Mister Ganondorf good news, we should be able to hold a charity drive for the Gerudo in two weeks."

"Thank you Tommy. Do you have any boxing gloves? Little Mac somehow talked me into trying out boxing," Ganondorf said.

"Right this way," Timmy responded. Ganondorf followed Timmy to a different part of the store.

"See you later Ganondorf," V said. Ace wasn't the kind to delude herself, her initial assessment of Ganondorf was wrong. It was another screw up but at least she was the only one who knew about it. She would have to improve her ability to read people. "Want me to show you the rest of Smashville while we're here?"

"Sure," Ace said. V took her on a quick tour of the different stores. There was a clothing store run by a trio of hedgehogs, a weapon store that had just struck a deal with Ammo Knights to sell ink weapons, a supermarket run by a humanoid creature with a mushroom like head called a Toad, and various other shops. When they were finished looking around they walked back to the car and drove back to Smash Mansion.

Ace and V split up when they got back, V went for a walk in the gardens while Ace went back into the mansion. She ran up the stairs to the third floor and back to her room. Thanks to Master Hand's powers the furniture she bought had already been teleported there. It wasn't much longer until the Squid Sisters were set to perform so Ace aimed to unpack as quickly as possible. First was the green rug, which she put in the center of the room. The two shelves were put on the wall opposite to the weapon wall, the lamp was placed next to the head of the bed, and the desk was put in the corner opposite the door. Ace moved the chair in front of the desk before unpacking the rest of her items, like her computer and speaker set.

"Attention all Smashers, the performance from the Squid Sisters will be starting soon. Please gather in the performance room on the first floor," Master Hand announced through the intercom system. Ace pumped her fist, she had finished unpacking just in time. She ran out of her room and this time she remembered to lock her door as she closed it. The ink on the ground from before had been cleaned up but the Inkrail leading downstairs was still active. Peach was sitting on a couch at the patio with another woman when Ace jumped off of the rail and onto the ground.

"Ace I forgot to warn you, Master Hand gives his announcements a little too early. The trick is to leave ten minutes after the announcement." Peach said when she saw Ace run towards the door.

"Wait, really? Oh come on," Ace complained. She stopped right in front of the door and walked back to the patio.

"On the bright side there were some things I wanted to talk to you about. Back in my world we have regular racing tournaments and we're looking for some new racers. After some negotiating with Master Hand he agreed to let me invite some people from other worlds. Do you want to compete?" Peach offered.

"Sure, sounds like fun. But I'll need a chance to get some practice in before it starts," Ace said. "What were some of the other things you wanted to talk about?"

"I can answer that," the woman sitting next to Peach said. Ace didn't try to get a read on her, the only safe way to practice that skill was with people she wouldn't see again. "I should introduce myself properly first. My name is Zelda, princess of Hyrule. Every Saturday we like to gather up all of the female Smashers for a girl's only night. Would you like to take part in it?"

"I'm up for it," Ace said. She let herself fall into one of the chairs as Peach and Zelda resumed their earlier conversation. With invitations like that she clearly hadn't screwed up as badly as she thought she did. After a few minutes had passed Peach and Zelda got up from the couch to go to the concert. Ace jumped out of her chair and walked with them back into the mansion. When they reached the performance room the concert still hadn't started yet. There was a stage at the back of the room, tables for people to watch the performances, and a large snack bar next to the door.

Gradually the room began to fill up as the Smashers assembled. When everyone had arrived the Squid Sisters walked out onto the stage. Marie raised three fingers and Callie waved to Ace as they started the song, it was their classic hit 'City of Color.' Hearing it reminded Ace of when she first started competing in Inksports and had been recruited into the New Squidbeak Splatoon. She had put in a lot of effort to ascend to her current skill level after starting out as a newbie. So she could make the climb to the top again as a Smasher. Ace started dancing and some of the other Smashers joined in. She was going to enjoy her stay at Smash Mansion.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'd like to take this time to describe how things are going to work for the rest of this story. There are going to be two kinds of chapters, the one you just read is a confirmation chapter. Obviously those are going to be written for characters that have been confirmed for Smash Switch. In addition to them I'll be writing visit chapters where a potential newcomer pays a visit to Smash Mansion. That's all, I hope you enjoyed reading this.


	2. Spring Man: Visit

Spring Man took deep breaths as the crowd cheered. On the other side of Spring Stadium was the defeated Springtron, his robotic doppelganger. Their battle had gone down to the last hit. He waved to the crowd like he was in a good mood as he walked back to the locker room. He always felt like he couldn’t afford to lose in Spring Stadium or to Springtron, so a match against Springtron in Spring Stadium had made him terrified of losing. Unfun fights like that always wore him out.

When Spring Man entered the locker room Max Brass was waiting for him with a bottle of water. “That was close, good job closing it out,” Max Brass said. He and Spring Man shared a fist bump. Spring Man slipped off the Tribolt and Boomerang attachments he had used for the match and stored them in the locker. He took the water bottle. “One of the Smashers is right outside, I can give you some tips about that match when you come back from the visit,” Max Brass said as Spring Man drank. Despite being the reigning champion Max Brass had always been generous with his offers to train and practice.

“Oh right, nearly forgot about that,” Spring Man said. “That creepy robot always makes it hard for me to think. Why are we still letting one of Coyle’s goons compete anyway?” Max Brass sighed.

“You were one of the people who fought to keep Helix in the league after that disaster in the Grand Prix finals, you should have realized that precedent would keep Springtron in too,” Max Brass said. 

“Well I don’t have the heart to let Helix get kicked out, so I guess I’ll put up with it for now. I should get going now, need to make a good impression on the Smashers. See ya,” Spring Man said. He put his hand through his blue pompadour to make sure it was still in place, pushed open the door, and confidently stepped outside. One of the Smashers was waiting for Spring Man in the hallway. He was wearing a black tank top and green shorts. He had the analytical eyes of a veteran fighter.

“Hey, name’s Little Mac. That was a good match back there,” the Smasher said.

“Thanks,” Spring Man said. “That was one of the narrowest wins I’ve had this year.”

“You looked like you were about to fall over when you closed it out,” Little Mac commented. “Don’t worry I’m a boxer so I know how to look for that kind of stuff, the audience didn’t notice,” He added after seeing the panicked look on Spring Man’s face. Neither of them knew what to say next. “Uh, anyway the car is right outside,” Little Mac said. They walked towards the exit.

The moment they got out onto the city streets a horde of reporters descended on Spring Man. Cameras and microphones were aimed directly at him. He couldn’t do anything to fight back. “Any comments on your recent victory?” “How do you feel about criticisms that you aren’t taking the Arms League seriously?” “Are the rumors that Max Brass and Doctor Coyle used to be a couple true?” That last question made Spring Man want to throw up. Normally he would have tried to respond to a few of the more respectful questions but instead he hurried into a long limousine with Little Mac. Spring Man was quickly introduced to the driver, who was also Little Mac’s coach, a man named Doc Louis.

As the car took off Spring Man closed his eyes and leaned back. In a matter of seconds he was asleep and completely missed the jump between dimensions. When they arrived at Smash Mansion Little Mac shook him awake. “Thanks. I feel so much better now,” Spring Man said with a yawn as he regained consciousness. He got out of the limo and looked around. 

Smash Mansion itself was large, and the area around it certainly wasn’t small either. Spring Man guessed that the halls would be big enough for him to jog in on rainy days. The gardens had clear cut paths that would also make good jogging routes. There were also plenty of strange plants that he had a feeling weren’t present in his world but he was confident they weren’t dangerous. While he was looking around Little Mac exchanged a few words with Doc Louis before the coach drove back into the nearby town. “This is bigger than I thought it would be. Do you guys have any rooms with training equipment?” Spring Man asked.

“Yeah. And if it isn’t good enough for you it will transform into something better. The Hands did something weird to make the mansion change in response to what we want. An entire boxing ring appeared out of nowhere after I showed up. The less you question the less your head will hurt,” Little Mac said.

“That actually sounds pretty cool. You know I’ve only met Crazy Hand, is Master hand less, you know…” Spring Man tapped his foot as he tried to find the right word. 

“You can actually keep up with what he’s saying.”

“That’s a relief,” Spring Man said. When Crazy Hand had scouted him the conversation they got into had been almost as exhausting as fighting Springtron. “So are you just going to show me around the place?”

“Basically,” Little Mac said. “We can hit the dining hall right away if you want.”  
______

Spring Man fully extended one of his arms and grabbed a slice of pizza from a plate further up the table. He liked how much space the interior of the mansion had. A side effect of the ARMS gene was that it was easy to feel cramped in spaces where normal people wouldn’t. He kept that information out of the description of the ARMS ability he gave the Smashers in the dining hall. “So some people in your world are just born with that ability?” Samus asked. She had her helmet in her lap as she ate some creamy heart soup.

“Yeah. It usually doesn’t show until the teens though,” Spring Man said, taking a large bite of the pizza slice. “I was a little freaked out when mine activated, but come on look at these things, they’re too rad to complain about.” Spring Man extended his arms to touch the ceiling and retracted them. From what he had seen having enough space to extend his arms wouldn’t be an issue anywhere in the mansion.

“Well, I guess that’s one way to look at it,” Samus said. She looked down at her arms. Spring Man snagged another slice of pizza. “So there’s a pretty big bounty on that Coyle woman’s head. Where do you think she is?”

“Could ya not ask the newcomers for leads on bounties? He hasn’t even signed up yet,” Little Mac protested.

“He’s connected to the case and I refuse to let Captain Falcon win our bet,” Samus said. She pointed in the direction of someone who Spring Man assumed was Captain Falcon. Spring Man looked at Little Mac in confusion.

“They’re trying to see who can get the biggest bounty from a newcomer’s world. Stuff like this is pretty common whenever recruitment starts. Ace over there is already sick of it,” Little Mac said, pointing out the first and so far only fifth generation Smasher. Unless Spring Man decided to accept the offer.

“If you want to track Coyle down then check ARMS Laboratory. Or anything ARMS related, she’s obsessed with it,” Spring Man said. He took yet another slice of pizza. Now that he thought about it he had no clue why Coyle seemed to have it out for him in particular. It was pretty obvious that Springtron hadn’t been made out of admiration.

“Got it. See you later, I’m heading to the shooting range,” Samus said. She got up from the table and put her helmet back on. A yellow mouse like creature leapt onto her shoulder and waved to Spring Man as she walked away. Little Mac sighed.

“Sorry about that, she can be pretty single minded whenever bounty hunting gets brought up. Anyway should you be eating that much pizza?” Little Mac asked.

“Don’t worry, my arms use up a lot of energy so this fits into the diet,” Spring Man said. He took a bowl of creamy meat soup and ate it quickly. After going through some more food Spring Man waited for Little Mac to finish eating. When he was done they got up and left to continue the tour.

________

The training room was filled with rows of neatly organized exercise equipment. They were so well maintained that they looked like they hadn’t been used at all. The wall was a somewhat unsettling blank white, Spring Man figured he’d get used to it with time. There was a door on the left wall and a door on the right wall. “The left door leads to a room with a bunch of yoga mats. Right one is where we keep the boxing ring,” Little Mac explained. 

A woman entered the room through the door on the left, her skin was so white she looked like a mannequin. “Hello Little Mac,” she said. Something was off about her voice. It didn’t sound robotic but there was something in it that made Spring Man think of Byte and Springtron. 

“Hey FT. Just showing the visitor around. Spring Man this is FT,” Little Mac introduced. 

“Nice to meet you,” Spring Man said.

“Same on my side,” FT responded. She stepped onto a treadmill and turned it on. “If you need any assistance with maintaining your body I can assist. I was created for that purpose,” she said as she ran. Spring Man scratched his head as Little Mac sighed.

“Right I should probably explain that. FT here was made in some lab to be the perfect fitness trainer. She has the brain of a robot but her body is just like ours aside from the weird color,” Little Mac said.

“My creators referred to me as ‘Biological Pseudo Android Personal Fitness Trainer Model F,’ I prefer the name FT. Master Hand brought me in during the fourth wave of recruitment to get some of the Smashers into shape, after my fighting ability was observed I was recruited as a Smasher,” FT expositioned. She continued running on the treadmill. Little Mac winced. Spring Man suddenly had a feeling her training regimen was exactly how Master Hand saw her combat potential.

“I actually know somebody who has kind of a similar story, he was grown in a tube to compete in the ARMS League. Anyway if I end up as a Smasher I might try out some of your training,” Spring Man said. Then he got an idea. “Actually if you need some more clients you could try working with Spring Gym, I can put you into contact with people there.” FT turned her head to face Spring Man.

“Thank you. I have access to many resources and formulas for the creation of personalized training regimens so I should be able to assist that gym,” FT said. She turned her head back forward. He still wasn’t sure if being a Smasher fit with his goal of enhancing Spring Gym’s reputation but at least now the attempt had gotten something for Spring Gym. Little Mac opened the door in the right wall and gestured for Spring Man to follow him.

The side room had a small boxing ring in one of its corners. A white sandbag with a pair of eyes drawn on it stood at the other side of the room. Some lights hung from the ceiling and there were a few windows on the upper part of the walls. Aside from that and a few pieces of equipment that were laid against the side of the boxing ring there was nothing else in the room. It gave the room a focused feeling that Spring Man liked. He could easily see himself spending hours there.

“Try not to knock the sandbag through the window,” Little Mac said.

“Did that actually happen?” Spring Man asked.

“Uh, yeah,” Little Mac awkwardly put his hands together. “Master Hand can immediately repair anything here but for some reason he still gets upset if anything does get broken.”

“Well if I actually did punch that sandbag through the window it would totally be worth it,” Spring Man said. 

“Trust me you don’t want to see Master Hand get angry,” Little Mac said with a nervous laugh. “Anyway I guess this basically wraps up the tour. Unless there’s something else you’d like to do.”

“You said you’re a boxer right? How about we have a friendly match right here?” Spring Man offered. Little Mac’s face lit up.

“I’m up for it. I’m better at getting to know people through boxing than talking,” Little Mac said. He ran to the lockers and grabbed two pairs of boxing gloves. He handed one of them to Spring Man before dashing to the further side of the boxing ring. Spring Man put on the gloves and jumped onto the closer side of the ring.

“Ready?”

“Yep. Let’s go.”

Spring Man extended his right arm to punch. Little Mac sidestepped and moved closer, then stopped and held up his arms to block a punch from Spring Man’s left arm. With the size of the boxing ring the range advantage granted by the ARMS gene wasn’t insurmountable but Little Mac still wasn’t close enough to punch Spring Man. Spring Man threw a punch that curved to catch Little Mac’s dodge and knocked him to the side.

“That was clever but I ain’t gonna fall for it again,” Little Mac said. Spring Man threw another punch. Little Mac blocked it and stepped forward. Spring Man also stepped forward as he threw another punch, then threw another behind it to catch any movement. Little Mac smirked. He ran towards the fists and leapt over them. Spring Man couldn’t retract his arms in time to block. Little Mac’s fist made contact with Spring Man’s chest and sent him stumbling backwards as the boxer landed with both feet on the ground, immediately hopping back with both arms thrown up in defense.

“That move was pretty good too,” Spring Man complimented. The way Little Mac moved around his punches and his leaping attack made Spring Man’s superior range a non-issue. So he would have to stick with letting Little Mac stay in striking range and hope the curve of his punches were enough to catch Little Mac’s dodges. He blocked a hit from Little Mac and retaliated. The counter attack was blocked and responded to with an equally futile attack. They kept the volley up for a while, attack, guard, attack, guard. Spring Man saw a chance to break the stalemate. He gathered energy for a rush attack and unleashed a rapid flurry of punches towards Little Mac. Little Mac dodged just in time and pulled out his own trump card.

“Star…” Little Mac’s right fist charged towards Spring Man’s chin “punch!” Little Mac landed the attack right as Spring Man struck him with the rush of punches. Spring Man went into the air while Little Mac was blown back. Little Mac kept his feet on the ground as he slid to the other end of the boxing ring while Spring Man crashed into the ring. Spring Man was able to pull himself up before Little Mac could offer to help.

“That was awesome. Guess you win,” Spring Man said. He stretched his arms over to the locker and put the boxing gloves away.

“It was pretty close. Your punches are really strong,” Little Mac said. He slipped his right hand out of it’s glove and felt his cheek. 

“Thanks. Well after that I’m ready to go back,” Spring Man said.

“Got it. I’ll walk you to the exit,” Little Mac said. They shared a fist bump. If Spring Man did join the Smashers he knew who his rival was going to be. For now he was just focused on walking with Little Mac out of the mansion and back to his own world. He would make the decision after taking some time to think things through. Either way he didn’t have any regrets about the visit.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I think Spring Man has a pretty good shot at being in Smash Switch so I wanted him to be the first visit chapter, that way he can't be confirmed while I'm in the middle of writing his chapter. This chapter took so long because of real life interference and Spring Man being a hard character to write for me, right now he's in this weird position of having a personality that's defined but still somewhat up in the air. He was originally going to be lazier and have a different dynamic with Max Brass but then the preview of the Arms comic from Free Comic Book Day happened and that became out of character. There should be less IRL disruptions now so updates will hopefully be much faster.


	3. Rex and Pyra: Visit

When Rex was told he would be teleported into Smashville he wasn’t sure what exactly he was expecting but it was definitely not landing face first on the ground. Yet that was exactly what happened. “Ow, a little warning would have been nice,” Rex complained as he pushed himself up from the ground. Behind him Pyra also picked herself up.

“Well at least we’re here,” Pyra said. The duo took a few seconds to take in their surroundings. They had crashed into the sidewalk in front of a museum. On the other side of the street were a few shops and a cafe. Neither of them could see anything that looked like a mansion. At least it was a pleasant sunny day. All sorts of strange people walked around the town, Rex and Pyra only got a brief look from them. “It doesn’t look like our guide is here.”

“Or we were sent to the wrong place, he did have crazy in his name,” Mythra said from inside Pyra’s mind. Pyra felt that it was rude but her other self did have a point. Rex looked around for some kind of landmark. Aside from the inhabitants and machines with wheels that seemed to move by themselves the town looked fairly normal.

“Excuse me sir, could you give us directions to Smash Mansion?” Pyra asked. The person she asked looked like an ordinary but short human aside from the part where the top of their head looked like a mushroom. In other words they didn’t look like an ordinary human. Pyra thanked the strange person for the directions.

Before they could get going someone came running out of the cafe. He was a strange mostly blue and black bipedal creature that had a white spike coming out of the back of each hand. “Are you the visitors for today?” He asked. When Rex and Pyra answered yes he continued. “Crazy Hand was supposed to do this later and send you inside the mansion but then he decided to do his own thing. You call me Lucario, I’ll be your guide for today.” Mythra immediately reminded Pyra that she had called it.

“It’s fine. Anyway nice to meet you, my name’s Rex and this is Pyra.” Rex shook hands with Lucario. With a flash of light from Pyra she swapped out for Mythra.

“And I’m Mythra,” she said. “So does Crazy Hand do that kind of stuff often?”

“Unfortunately yes,” Lucario said. He gave them an odd look before quickly turning around before either of them could comment on it. “So do you want to explore this town before heading to the mansion?”

“Could we take a look inside that museum? I want to see what the history of the other worlds look like,” Mythra said. Lucario gave his approval and led the way into the museum. The main room had four different passageways leading to different sections. According to the signs the first floor was for the natural history of the town itself and the second was about the history of the other worlds. Standing in the middle of the main room was an anthropomorphic owl. A sleeping anthropomorphic owl. 

“That’s Blathers. He runs the museum but he’s nocturnal so this happens all the time. He’s used to visitors waking him up if you want to talk to him,” Lucario explained.

“Nah, let’s let him get some sleep. We can find our own way through here,” Rex said. The group went up the staircase to the second floor. There were a large number of hallways, more than Rex was willing to put in the effort to count, and each of them had a different symbol above them. One of the hallways was blocked off by a barrier of blue light and had a sign next to it reading ‘New Exhibit Coming Soon: Stories of The Great Turf War.’ Mythra walked into the nearest passageway with only a brief look at the sign next to it. Lucario trailed behind her and Rex.

The next room was full of old armor and paintings. Mythra ran up to the largest painting to take a closer look at it. It was of a war between two armies of strange creatures with a gigantic tree looming over it in the background, a flash of green light was coming from the center of the tree. According to the text beneath the painting it was titled War’s End and showed the end of an infamous war, brought about by the sacrifice of the hero Sir Aaron. “That kind of looks like the world tree, don’t you think?” Rex commented.

“It definitely looks similar,” Mythra said.

“It’s called the Tree of Beginning. Though in reality it’s a rock formation,” Lucario said.

“Oh is this from your world?” Mythra asked. Lucario nodded. “Looking at this picture reminds me of my world. Maybe they have some things in common.” She turned her attention back to the painting and muttered something under her breath about the Aegis War. It was too quiet for Rex to notice. “You guys can go ahead if you want, I want to spend some more time looking at this painting,” she said.

“I’ll just explore the rest of this exhibit then,” Rex said. He and Lucario left Mythra alone with the painting. Mythra eventually turned her attention to some of the other paintings in the room, she had seen enough armor for a lifetime. The rest of the paintings were high quality but didn’t draw her in like War’s End. She stopped at a piece titled Mourning for a Hero. A queen was holding a staff that Mythra recognized from the paintings that featured Sir Aaron. The queen had a sorrowful expression on her face. It was too familiar for Mythra’s taste.

Mythra walked into the next room and stopped when she looked to her left and saw a statue of Sir Aaron, with Lucario standing by his side. The real Lucario was looking up at it. Rex was somewhere in one of the other rooms of the exhibit. Ignoring Pyra’s pleas for tact Mythra walked up to Lucario. “You lived through all of this didn’t you?” She asked, placing her right hand on her hip.

“So you caught on.”

“Well the statue certainly gave it away. I’m guessing Rex just walked past it. Anyway want us to skip this exhibit? I’m also in the history books so I understand how you feel,” Mythra said.

“I’ve put it in the past. While we’re talking I may as well bring this up. I have the ability to see aura, the life force of all living beings. You and Rex have auras that seem to be constantly changing each other, I’ve never seen something like that,” Lucario said.

“I did just dig into your past, so I’ll share some of mine. Rex died when we first met. He’s only standing now because Pyra shared our life force with him,” Mythra said. “Not like I wouldn’t have done the same or anything,” she quickly added in a defensive tone, taking a small step forward. Lucario chuckled. “Hey stop that.”

“Sorry, the way you said it was a little funny,” Lucario said.

“It wasn’t funny,” Mythra insisted. She crossed her arms and took a few seconds to calm herself down. “So, uh, since we’re already on the subject, how-“

“You can ask me about Sir Aaron.” Lucario put his hands together and briefly glanced up at the statue.

“Was it that obvious? I just want to know what he was really like. I knew somebody who also ended up being a legendary hero and the records couldn’t even get his food preferences right, not to mention some of the other stuff that got left out,” Mythra said.

“He was a good friend and loyal to his kingdom. When he went to the Tree of Beginning to sacrifice himself he didn’t tell anyone about his plan. He sealed me away so I wouldn’t give my life in his place,“ Lucario explained. His voice was even and calm but Mythra could feel a few bits of sadness in it.

“Looks like we have a lot in common then. Addam sealed Pyra and I away once the war was over, our power was too destructive. By the time Rex broke it Addam had been dead for a long time,” Mythra said. “Do you miss him?”

“Yes. But I don’t let it drag me down. I had to make the same sacrifice Sir Aaron did so we met again in the afterlife. I’m standing here because Master Hand revived me, he needed my help to keep order between the worlds,” Lucario said.

“I’m not sure if I would be able to do that,” Mythra said. “I wish I could have at least been with Addam when he died but I’d only be insulting him if I stopped to mope. Nice to see that we have the same idea. I’d like to talk more about everything we’ve been through later. Right now we should get going, I want to see the rest of this museum,” Mythra said. Lucario nodded and they moved to the next part of the exhibit. With a flash of light Mythra swapped out for Pyra.

“Thanks Lucario. Talking with you really helped, even if Mythra won’t admit it,” Pyra said.

__________

As he walked into the exhibit on the Sheikah tribe Rex’s eyes lit up. The room was filled with old, broken, and decayed technology. He had never been to a museum before but they always paid a good sum to salvagers who could get what they wanted. Someone else was already in the room, a blonde woman dressed in blue who was inspecting the largest machine. Rex eagerly ran next to her to take a closer look.

“This thing looks incredible,” Rex said. He quickly read the label, it was an ancient war machine called a Guardian that could move autonomously. When it detected a target it would fire a laser at them. “Hey Pyra check this out, this thing sounds like it used to be a lot like Siren.” Rex looked at the small gaps in the bottom of the Guardian, according to the label it used to have six legs that could bend to accommodate different elevations. He looked around and saw what was labeled as the leg of a Guardian. If it was really that flexible salvaging it would make a great profit, probably the most profitable part of the entire Guardian depending on how much the technology behind it was understood.

“Are you two the visitors I heard about?” the woman asked. Rex had almost completely forgotten about her in his excitement. Pyra walked over to join them.

“Yeah, sorry about barging in. I salvage this kind of stuff for a living so I got a little excited. My name’s Rex, that over there is Pyra.”

“My name is Zelda. I’m studying the ancient Sheikah technology so if you want to know more you can ask me.” She shook hands with Rex and Pyra.

“How much of this thing do you understand? In my world there’s a lot of ancient technology that we just don’t understand,” Rex asked.

“I’m making progress but there’s a lot we don’t understand, especially with how the Guardian actually operates. Before we could only turn them on and wait for the enemy to appear but recently I made a breakthrough,” Zelda said. She reached into her pocket and pulled out a small slate, it appeared to be made out of the same material as the Guardian. “This is a Sheikah Slate, another marvel from the Ancient Sheikah.” The screen on the slate came to life and displayed different icons.

“Woah, that looks incredible. What does it do?” Rex leaned in to take a closer look at the screen, Pyra pulled him back so Zelda could have more room.

“It can do a lot of things. Recently I was able to unlock a feature that lets me influence how Guardians operate, but it’s far more complicated than any other feature. I was able to link it to a single operating Guardian but I don’t know how, and I can’t repeat it for some reason,” Zelda said. She looked down at a symbol on her right hand.

“These things sound like they’re dangerous. You’re being careful right?” Pyra asked.

“We already learned a lesson about trusting the Guardians the hard way. The one I’m experimenting on doesn’t have any legs and it’s a trapped in a room that it can’t destroy, even if it’s corrupted it won’t be able to cause any harm. Anyway I was able to change one thing about the Guardian with the Sheikah Slate. I can make it target things that it wouldn’t have before but I’m still trying to understand just how it works,” Zelda explained. She put the Sheikah Slate back in her pocket.

“That’s so cool. You aren’t thinking of actually using it though are you?” Rex put his right hand on the back of his head.

“Oh goddess no, the Guardians have destroyed enough already. But if I can fully understand how they work I might be able to use that knowledge for more peaceful purposes or make the Guardians harmless,” Zelda said. “Right now my world is filled with ruins from more prosperous times. We need to do everything we can to bring ourselves back to that level.” She glanced at the deactivated Guardian, taking a slight step away from it. 

“I know how you feel. I’m always picking up relics from ancient civilizations and they seem to know way more than we do now. Space in our world is running out and people are squabbling over what space is left. That’s why Pyra and I are going to fix it,” Rex said.

“How do you fix a lack of space?” Zelda asked. Rex smiled.

“Well in our world there’s a thing called the World Tree sitting right at the center, and on top of it is a paradise called Elysium. According to the stories people used to live up there with our divine father the Architect, but he sent us down to the Cloud Sea so we’ve been living on the Titans ever since. But now the Titans are dying out and if they go extinct we won’t have anything to live on. So if we climb the World Tree and go back to Elysium there’ll be enough space for everyone again,” Rex said. 

“I see, so you’re in a race against time. I hope you and Pyra are able to reach it,” Zelda said.

“Thank you,” Pyra said. “I’m starting to feel better about our odds. We’ve found a lot of people who are willing to help.”

“If you two do become Smashers I hope you’ll have reached Elysium by then,” Zelda said. Pyra held her right wrist with her left hand.

“Oh don’t worry, we will,” Rex said. “It was nice talking with you, we should probably go see the rest of the place while we still have time.”

“Farewell for now,” Zelda said, waving as Rex and Pyra rejoined Lucario and went to tour the rest of the museum.

_________

The rest of the tour passed without incident, both for the museum and Smash Mansion itself. Pyra liked the cooking supplies in Smash Mansion, Mythra liked the lake that was nearby, and Rex liked the lack of rent. Lucario finished the tour by bringing them to the teleporter room that would return them to their world. “This was where you were supposed to arrive. We’re going to need to wait for Master Hand before you can return,” Lucario explained. “So, what did you think?”

“I just wish the rest of our friends could have come with us, Tora would have loved to see some of the technology you guys have,” Rex said. 

“If we become Smashers will we be able to invite our friends to the mansion?” Pyra asked.

“Yes. For some reason it’s easier to summon people from worlds that already have a Smasher, so you would just have to input the right things into that console over there,” Lucario said, pointing to the control panel.

“That sounds convenient, wouldn’t want anyone else to land face first on the ground,” Rex said. He put a hand on his cheek, the pain was mostly gone.

“It’ll probably still happen to Zeke,” Pyra said. “Will we be able to visit the other worlds?”

“Yes. One Smasher even used this teleporter to invite some of the other Smashers to her racing tournament,” Lucario said.

“Your world sounds like it would be a lot of fun to explore Lucario. Maybe you could give us a tour of that too sometime,” Rex said. Pyra awkwardly looked away.

“I’d only be able to show you around a small part of it,” Lucario said. 

“That’s fine, I’m sure it’s still great. And we can show you around our world once we reach Elysium, right Pyra?” 

“That sounds like it would be fun,” Pyra said. Master Hand teleported into the room. Rex and Pyra jumped back in surprise, Lucario was unfazed.

“Apologies for my tardiness, recruitment season is always extremely busy,” Master Hand said. 

“No problem. We’ll send the letter when we make our decision,” Rex said. He got onto the platform with Pyra. “It was fun visiting.”

“Goodbye,” Pyra said. Master Hand snapped his fingers and activated the teleporter. Rex and Pyra waved as they faded out of Smash Mansion and back into their world.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Like Spring Man I think the main question with Rex and Pyra's chances is when the roster got finalized, Smash takes a long time to make but so do RPGs. In terms of Xenoblade 2's story I picture this happening sometime after the full party is assembled but before the events in the latter half of chapter six. In case anyone is wondering why Azurda/Gramps wasn't in this chapter it was to avoid cluttering the scenes with too many characters, if Rex is confirmed and he shows up in a taunt or something then he will appear in the confirmation chapter.
> 
> On that note, with E3 right around the corner the next chapter will be a confirmation chapter (unless no newcomer is announced there, which I feel is unlikely). If more than two characters are confirmed I'll most likely give each newcomer their own chapter, trying to focus on three at a time may wear me out.


	4. Daisy: Confirmation

“Hey Peach, Luigi!” Daisy called out as she ran to meet the two veteran Smashers in front of Smash Mansion. She pulled two wheeled suitcases with her as a Toad hurried behind her with another. 

“Daisy? You’re the new fighter?” Luigi asked.

“Surprised? Peach spent the past few months training me how to fight,” Daisy said. The Toad dropped the suitcase and ran back into town. Daisy waved goodbye to him. “So are you going to take me to my room?”

“Of course. Luigi why don’t you pick up that suitcase? Daisy I’ll take one of those off of your hands,” Peach said. 

“Thanks,” Daisy said. She let go of one of the suitcases so Peach could take it and they walked up the stairs to the front door of the mansion. When they got inside Daisy was impressed, it reminded her of her home in Sarasaland. She looked around as she ascended the staircase to the third floor.

Daisy’s room was near a balcony overlooking the lake. The room across from hers had a nameplate marked ‘Ace.’ “Do you want some help unpacking?” Peach offered.

“No thanks, I can do it myself,” Daisy said.

“All right then. When you’re done Master Hand said he’ll give you a tour,” Peach said.

“Neat. Thanks for the help. I’ll see you guys around.” Daisy waved as Peach and Luigi walked down the hallway. She opened the door and pulled in the three suitcases. Her furniture had already been brought over, complete with a flower vase containing daisies. The side table was right by the window so the daisies could get the sunlight she needed and her vanity was next to the closet. She started by unpacking the clothes, putting the dresses on the right side of her closet and her sports clothing on the left side. 

Next were the sports trophies, which she lined up on a shelf. After unpacking all of the other items she took her journal and sat on her bed, it was nice and hard, the way she liked it. Daisy took a pen from the side table and started writing in the journal.

_Just arrived at Smash Mansion and got my room all set up. It’s right next to the balcony which has a great view. After the tour I’m going to find some time to glide down to the lake with my parasol. I want to get in some more training rounds with Peach before my first fight too. Letting my first match as a Smasher end in defeat is NOT an option. ___

__Daisy closed the journal and put it on the side table. She took a few seconds to check her appearance in the vanity before exiting the room. At the same time someone left the room that was to the left of Daisy’s room. The other person was a girl with black hair and a white brimmed hat with a small arch of red on it. She was wearing a blue shirt and a dark red skirt, long blue socks came up from her shoes. A yellow bag hung at her right side. “Hi I’m Daisy.” The girl took a second to gather her words._ _

__“Nice to meet you Daisy, my name is Leaf,” the girl said. She extended her hand, Daisy shook it. “I’m new here, just checked out my room.”_ _

__“I just arrived too,” Daisy said. “When the tour is over let’s do something together, us newcomers should support each other.”_ _

__“Uh sure. Oh I know we could have a picnic somewhere,” Leaf said as she put her hands together. “My big brother is a veteran and he told me we can use the teleporter freely,”_ _

__“That sounds great,” Daisy said. Master Hand warped into the hallway. Leaf leapt back and pulled a red and white sphere out of her bag. She put it back with a sheepish look on her face._ _

__“Most people react like that the first time,” Master Hand said. “So I see you two have already met. There’s just one more person we’re waiting for and then we can start the tour.” Right on cue someone walked down the hallway. He was an Inkling boy his two hair tentacles tied into a topknot. “There he is. Daisy, Leaf, this is Nept. Nept this is Daisy and Leaf, like you they just arrived here.”_ _

__“Yo,” Nept said. He walked up to them and shook their hands. “Hey, you were at the racing tournament in the Mushroom Kingdom right?” He asked Daisy._ _

__“I thought you looked familiar. Nice to see you again,” Daisy said._ _

__“You two know each other?” Leaf asked._ _

__“A friend of mine is a veteran fighter so she used the teleporter here to invite some people to a racing tournament,” Daisy explained._ _

__“I see. Well it’s good to meet you Nept,” Leaf said, resting her right hand on top of her bag. “Daisy and I were just talking about having a picnic together, do you want to come along? Maybe we could invite the girl from that room over there,” She pointed to the room with the nameplate saying ‘Ace.’_ _

__“Thanks, that sounds cool. Ace is from my world and a fellow member of the New Squidbeak Splatoon so I’ll try to get her to come,” Nept said, puffing out his chest._ _

__“Does… does everyone else already know each other?” Leaf asked. It was easy to see the panic in her face._ _

__“Relax Leaf, there’s plenty of people here none of us know. You said your big brother is also a veteran right?” Daisy comforted._ _

__“Right, I’m feeling a little better now. Thanks,” Leaf said._ _

__“Now let us begin the tour,” Master Hand said. He led the trio around the mansion, showing off the various rooms. Leaf quickly snatched a book to put in her bag when they went into the library. When they left the armory it took everyone a few seconds to realize Nept had stayed behind to stare at the weapons and they went back to grab him. At the garage Daisy daydreamed about driving the various vehicles stored in it, like the small spaceships that Master Hand referred to as Arwings. The tour ended in the dining room, since it wasn’t time for lunch they were the only ones there. “And that concludes the tour, the kitchen is through the doors in the back. Come to my office if you have any more questions,” Master Hand said. He teleported out of the room._ _

__“Well since we’re here I think it would be a good idea to start packing for the picnic,” Leaf said._ _

__“I’ll text Ace and ask her if she wants to come along,” Nept said, pulling out his phone. Leaf led the way into the kitchen. Thankfully the various cabinets were all labeled with what they contained. Daisy opened the refrigerator as Leaf started making a sandwich for herself. Leaf pulled out the red and white sphere from earlier and opened it. A stream of white light came from it and arched into the ground, forming into a creature. It was a quadruped with bright green skin and a yellow bud growing out of its back._ _

__“This is Fushigisou, you can just call him Fushi,” Leaf said. “My brother also has an Ivysaur so I gave him that nickname to make things easier. Fushi the berries are over there, could you grab some for me?” Vines extended from the leaves around the bud on Fushi’s back, pulling open one of the cabinets and grabbing a few bags with berries one by one._ _

__“She’s cute,” Daisy said. Nept grabbed a bag of potato chips from the cabinet._ _

__“Well this is all I need for my lunch,” Nept said._ _

__“Ugh, Nept you’re such a rookie it hurts.” The trio turned around, Ace was standing in the door of the kitchen. An Ink Tank was resting on her back and a Splattershot was in a holster on her hip. “Thanks for the invite by the way. Where are we having this picnic?”_ _

__“Either that lake by the back or one of the other worlds,” Daisy said. She grabbed a picnic basket from the cabinet above the refrigerator and Nept put the bag of chips in it._ _

__“Sounds good. Also why is Ivysaur a different color all of a sudden?” Ace kneeled down to get a closer look at Fushi._ _

__“This is a different Ivysaur from the one my brother has, the color difference is a rare trait he was born with,” Leaf explained. “I don’t think we’ve met yet, my name is Leaf.”_ _

__“So you’re Red’s little sister?” Leaf nodded her head. “Cool. I’m Ace.” Ace held out her fist, Leaf gave her a fist bump. “I heard the Hands have already scouted two new locations for the tournament. Moray Towers from my world and some place called the Great Plateau from Link’s world. How about we go check out that Great Plateau place for the picnic?”_ _

__“Sounds good to me,” Daisy said. Leaf nodded in agreement again as she put her sandwich in a ziplock bag._ _

__“Moray Towers, really? That place is no fun to fight in,” Nept complained._ _

__“Hey you didn’t have to endure it before they added those Ink Rails. That was the real Charger hell,” Ace responded. Leaf packed in some food for her Pokemon as Daisy got food for the rest of the group. Nept snatched a box of cookies and Ace grabbed some drinks. “Oh Nept it’s a rule to always be combat ready when using the teleporter so I grabbed your gear for you.” Ace took a small pouch out of her pocket and pulled out a vastly larger Inktank and Splattershot with a holster, Nept took both._ _

__“Thanks. Did Sheldon make the holster?” Nept asked._ _

__“Yeah, it’s one of his projects for the Splatoon. Not much use for it with Turf War and the like,” Ace answered._ _

__“Let’s get going already,” Daisy said. She picked up the picnic basket and led the way out of the kitchen._ _

__“So Nept, Ace, how exactly do you two know each other?” Leaf asked as Daisy threw open the dining hall door._ _

__“We’re both part of the New Squidbeak Splatoon,” Nept said, taking out his Splattershot and twirling it before returning it to his holster. “It’s a secret group dedicated to keeping our home city of Inkopolis safe. I’m agent 4 and Ace is agent 3.”_ _

__“Wow that’s cool,” Leaf said. “Wait should you guys be talking about it so openly then?”_ _

__“It’s fine, you’re not from our world,” Ace said. They reached the teleporter room, Ace held the door open for the rest of the group. Leaf walked over to the console that controlled the teleporter._ _

__“I’ve got it set up. Everyone ready?” Leaf asked. When she got the affirmative she turned on the teleporter and ran over to join the others. It turned on and in a flash they were absent from Smash Mansion._ _

__________ _

__The group appeared on a ruined staircase. Behind them were the ruins of an ancient temple and a snow covered mountain, and in front of them was a large tower. It was a clear and sunny day, which Fushi made his appreciation of clear with contented sounds. “Let’s go climb that tower, the view from there is going to be great” Daisy suggested._ _

__“Good thinking,” Leaf said. “I’d love to explore this place with my Pokemon some time so the tower would let me scope the area out._ _

__“Are you sure? It looks like a pretty big climb,” Nept said._ _

__“That means we’ll be in the perfect mood to eat once we get to the top,” Daisy said. Nept looked at the ground and mumbled his reluctant agreement. The sound of turning gears filled the air._ _

__“Uh, you guys hear that too right?” Ace asked. Before anyone could answer a machine stepped into view, climbing up from a small depression in the ground that had a small pool of water. It had six long legs and a single glowing eye. A red targeting laser came from the eye and targeted Daisy. “That’s a Guardian, everyone move!” The group scattered immediately as a blue laser beam created an explosion where they had been standing._ _

__“What is that thing?!” Leaf yelled._ _

__“Who cares we need to destroy it before it kills us,” Nept shouted back. The Guardian took aim at Daisy again._ _

__“I’ll distract him,” Daisy said. She waited until the Guardian began charging and leapt away, hovering in the middle of air away from the laser and explosion. Ace changed her hair and ink color to blue and gave a hand signal to Nept. They fired their Splattershots as they ran towards the Guardian, submerging themselves into the ink whenever the targeting laser turned to them. It was enough to fool the Guardian, whose attention kept on returning to Daisy. She had placed the picnic basket behind cover so it wouldn’t get damaged before running back into its view._ _

__“Fushi use Leech Seed,” Leaf commanded. A small seed shot out from the bud on Fushi’s back and landed on top of the Guardian, vines erupted from the seed to cover it. Ace leapt up from the ink and fired shots into the Guardian’s eye before submerging again. Nept copied the motion. The Guardian’s targeting laser turned to Leaf._ _

__Instantly Leaf made a run for cover. Without prompting Fushi arched forwards and shot seeds with the force of bullets into the eye of the Guardian. Daisy landed back on the ground and used white magic to create a turnip in her hands, she threw it into the eye of the Guardian as it aimed at Fushi. “We aren’t damaging it enough,” Ace said as she leapt out for another shot. Leaf was crouched behind a ruined column, shouting orders to Fushi and too filled with panic to focus. “Leaf warp back and get someone from this world,” Ace yelled over the sound of another missed Guardian laser._ _

__Leaf stopped cowering, something about Ace’s request had enraged her. She was a trainer, running while her Pokemon fought wasn’t what she did. It was her job to come up with a plan. That was what she had always done for her Pokemon. Whatever the Guardian was it would pay for making her lose her composure as a trainer. Leaf pulled down the brim of her hat. “No. Everyone I have a plan. Ace, Nept, what else do you have on you?”_ _

__“Just some Splat Bombs and a Roller, I don’t think ink works on this thing,” Nept answered as a turnip nearly hit him instead of the Guardian. “Watch it Daisy!”_ _

__“Sorry.”_ _

__“Nept keep a closer eye on what everyone else is doing or you’re going to get yourself killed,” Ace said._ _

__“Is the explosion from the bombs powerful enough to throw the Guardian off balance?” Leaf asked. She ducked her head back behind the column before the Guardian could target her._ _

__“Oh I see. You want us to knock it over, good thinking,” Ace said._ _

__“Exactly, put them on the front side so the Guardian gets sent backwards. Daisy get the Guardian to target you for the next blast, once the bombs go off Fushi is going to use solar beam but it needs a few seconds to charge even with sunlight. Ace and Nept, you two should get away from the Guardian once the bombs are out,” Leaf said. “Everyone understand. Good, Fushi use Solar Beam.”_ _

__“Hey ugly,” Daisy loudly taunted as she stepped into the Guardian’s targeting beam. At the same time Nept and Ace popped up in front of the Guardian to drop Splat Bombs right under it. Fushi began charging solar energy in the bud on its back. The laser fired. The Splat Bombs went off. Daisy dodged. The Guardian titled backwards. Fushi sent Solar Beam at it. The force of the beam knocked over the Guardian._ _

__The Guardian’s legs bended downwards and towards the ruined column next to it. It pulled itself back upright using the column. The targeting laser was aimed at Daisy, who was running directly at it with a battle cry of “just admit defeat already you loser.” Daisy sidestepped the laser and was right in front of the Guardian. She leapt up and slammed her hip into the Guardian, tilting it back. Ace tossed a Splat Bomb to add more force to push it back, Nept threw his as well when he realized what the plan was. The Guardian fell over once again, its ‘head’ was on the ground with its legs moving wildly through the air to find something solid._ _

__“Everyone go for the legs with your strongest attacks. Fushi pull the legs off with Vine Whip,” Leaf ordered. Right as one of the Guardian’s legs touched the column Fushi’s vines wrapped around it. After some struggle the leg snapped off. Ace and Nept covered the Guardian in ink, swam up it, and used their Rollers to slam the legs off of it, ducking into ink before the Guardian could fire a laser at them. Daisy took out a golf club and beat one of the legs with it until it detached from the Guardian._ _

__“Only two left. Ace, Nept team up on one. Daisy help Fushi with the other one.” The two Inklings regrouped at one of the remaining legs and sent it crashing off with a simultaneous strike from their Rollers. Fushi’s vines wrapped around the last leg and pulled on them, a strike from Daisy’s golf club added enough force to sever it from the Guardian’s body. Ace and Nept ran in front of the Guardian’s eye and finished it off a burst of ink from their Splattershots. The blue light faded from the Guardian as it became an empty husk._ _

__“Yeah! That’s what you get for messing with the NSS,” Nept cheered. Daisy walked back to where she had hidden the picnic basket and picked it up. Leaf rejoined the rest of the group._ _

__“That could have gone a lot better,” Ace said, forming her left hand into a fist. Her hair turned back to its usual orange color._ _

__“I think we all did great,” Leaf said. “Is everyone still up for climbing that tower? I think it might be safer up there.”_ _

__“Of course,” Daisy said. Leaf pulled out the red and white sphere from earlier and it sent out a red beam of light to Fushi that absorbed the Pokemon._ _

______ _

__It took some time but when the group ascended to the top of the tower they all agreed the view was worth it. They could see a castle far off in the distance, wide plains of grass, and even a distant volcano. Nept stayed towards the center of the tower and away from the edges. Leaf sent out Fushi and her two other Pokemon, a small turtle like Pokemon nicknamed Zenigame and a dragon like Pokemon nicknamed Lizardon. Daisy handed out the food from the picnic basket. “I’m pretty sure I’ve heard Link and Zelda talk about those things before,” Ace said._ _

__“So that’s why you knew what they were called,” Nept commented._ _

__“We should tell them about our fight with it then, we might have missed a weak point,” Leaf said._ _

__“Something about the way it showed up felt weird, but I can’t place my finger on it. Oh well, we can worry about it later. Those Guardians aren’t that tough,” Daisy said. The conversation shifted to lighter topics as the newest Smashers enjoyed their picnic. When the meal was over Leaf reactivated the teleporter and they vanished in a flash of light, returning to Smash Mansion._ _

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Even though we only got two newcomers I figured that it was still best to give Daisy and Ridley separate chapters. Since it's common to refer to female Robin and Corrin with their Japanese names I decided to do the same for Leaf's Pokemon, Leaf herself already has a English 'canon' name distinct from her male counterpart Red. It looks like there won't be too many confirmation chapters but Ridley's is up next.


	5. Ridley: Confirmation

All of the Smashers were gathered in the performance room. The air was tense since Master Hand had gathered them for the reveal of the next Smasher with a reminder of the rules against fighting. That only happened if Master Hand thought there was a risk of a fight breaking out. Those who had been around for the longest still remembered the destructive battle that had happened when Ganondorf made his debut and Link rushed the stage. Samus was retelling the story to the newest Smashers when Master Hand teleported onto the stage, the sound of the newcomer being teleported in from behind the curtain could also be heard.

“Attention everyone, I would like to introduce all of you to our newest Smasher,” Master Hand said. For a floating disembodied hand his body language was easy to read after a while. No motion in the thumb meant he was expecting outrage over his choice. “From the same world as Samus Aran-“ every Smasher moved away from the bounty hunter “-we have the powerful Space Pirate, Ridley.”

From behind the curtain a large dragon like creature with dark purple skin walked onto the stage. Ridley had bent down to fit into the mansion better but was still taller than the other Smashers. He proved that it did nothing to inhibit his movement by sidestepping a fully charged power shot from his nemesis. 

“Ridley?! You made a mistake Master Hand!” Samus leapt at Ridley and he charged to meet her. Arm cannon and claw clashed at the edge of the stage. Samus sent Ridley up in the air with a powerful uppercut. Ridley spread his wings and flew around just below the ceiling, dodging the power shots and missiles while retaliating with fireballs. The other Smashers either watched the fight, left the room, or in the case of Ace pulled out their phone to record the battle. Falco passed a bag of popcorn to Bowser Junior.

“Samus calm down-“ Master Hand was shot into the wall with a flurry of Super Missiles before he could finish speaking. He was knocked out cold against the wall, which had also happened when he tried to stop Link from attacking Ganondorf. Pikachu utilized Quick Attack to jump onto the stage. He grabbed Samus’s leg, when she looked down he shook his head and tapped her leg. That was enough to make Samus stop firing.

“What’s wrong, out of ammo or did you just remember that you’re not really Chozo?” Ridley mockingly asked. Instantly Samus’s rage returned and the barrage of projectiles resumed with even greater strength. Which resulted in Ridley getting hit by some of them. Pikachu exchanged a look with Mewtwo before firing a blast of electricity at Ridley that knocked him into the wall and sent him slowly falling down against it. At the same time Mewtwo teleported in front of Samus and stunned her with Disable before knocking her out with his tail.

“I’ll be in the clinic. You guys can handle dragging the bastard in,” Doctor Mario said.

“And I’ll take Samus back to her room for rest. Do you want a guard in the event Samus tries to hunt Ridley down?” Mewtwo asked.

“I can handle her,” Doctor Mario answered. The other Mario sighed as yet another part of the disaster that was Ganondorf’s first day as a Smasher repeated itself. Ganondorf grabbed Ridley’s legs while Bowser grabbed his shoulders and they carried him out of the room. 

___

Ridley was used to waking up somewhere unusual after fighting Samus. This time the bed was large enough to hold Ridley’s full wingspan and the ceiling was white, with lights so bright his eyes hurt. “Finally up. Took you long enough for all the trouble you just caused,” Doctor Mario said as he filled out some paperwork on a clipboard. Ridley tried to move but there were restraints on all of his limbs, even his tail. And thanks to a gag over his mouth he couldn’t demand his release either. It didn’t stop him from trying and turning his head to glare at the doctor. “Did you really think I was letting you wake up and breathe fire on me? Dumbass.”

Doctor Mario walked over and removed the gag. “How dare you-” Ridley got hit with the clipboard for his remark.

“Those restraints come off when I feel like it. Don’t make that after your death,” Doctor Mario threatened. Ridley was too outraged to say anything kind and just barely restrained himself from saying anything at all. Even the aftermath of the K-2L raid hadn’t been as humiliating as his current situation, at the mercy of a human doctor with a sadistic look on their face. Still there had to be a way out. “Samus already told us everything so don’t play the victim, we all saw you provoke her. You’re not going to have any fights to the death here, understand? Any tricks with wording or word play and I’m surgically removing your wings.”

“Yes,” Ridley said, swallowing his pride. Doctor Mario tapped his foot expectantly. “Yes I won’t fight anyone to the death as long as I’m in this realm and will follow all the rules.” For Ridley it hurt on an almost physical level to say that to an inferior life form. The restraints were removed and he got out of the bed as quickly as he could.

“I’ll lead you to your room,” Doctor Mario said. He lead the way out of his office, after walking to and ascending a flight of stairs Ridley’s room was just a short walk down the hallway. The room had extremely dim lighting and covers over the windows, the one form of ‘decoration’ was a large touch screen on the right wall. Ridley shut the door and flew up towards the top of the room, digging his talons into the ceiling so he could hang from it. He didn’t feel a need to add anything else to the room. “You’re welcome. Ungrateful bastard,” Doctor Mario said from the other side of the door. Ridley carefully listened to the sounds of the doctor’s footsteps to confirm that he was being left alone.

Now that Ridley was in a better position he could make a plan. He had only agreed to be a Smasher to get stronger and finally kill Samus to secure the victory of the Space Pirates. Samus also being a Smasher threw a wrench into every plan Ridley had. After some thinking Ridley opened himself up to the possibility that some of the other species present could be among the elite that deserved to rule their universe. He dropped down to the floor feet first and raised a claw to turn on the touch screen, pulling up the roster and the profile it gave for each Smasher.

Humans and any human like species such as the Hylians and Inklings were immediately crossed off of the list, alongside the mutt and duck. After reading through the data on them he decided that the Manakete could at least be tolerated. Robots could be useful but only as tools, Mega Man would be another obstacle but R.O.B could be a decent weapon. The Pokemon varied, that yellow rat was obviously inferior but some of the others held promise. However it appeared that most of them had a misplaced loyalty to the clearly inferior humans, still Mewtwo and Greninja could possibly be recruited even if the loyalties of the two Charizard were a vast disappointment. The Lylat system seemed to be inhabited entirely by inferior beings, as did the world of that Sonic creature.

The Koopa would require more investigating, those two apes and the Yoshi were an instant no. Judging from appearances alone he would have dismissed the two puffballs, but reading up on their accomplishments made him deduce the small appearance was merely another weapon in their vast arsenal. The one called Kirby was almost like a Metroid with its use of other life forms’ energy.

A knock on the door interrupted Ridley’s plotting. He looked through the peephole, Bowser Junior was on the other side. He didn’t seem to have any weapons on him so Ridley opened the door. “What do you want?” Ridley asked.

“I just wanted to say that I think you’re really cool. Can I come in?” Junior asked. Ridley thought of all the different ways he could have just killed Junior if he wasn’t bound by the rules of the mansion. Of course last time he had been in a position like that the end result was Samus Aran becoming a menace to the Space Pirates.

“You can enter,” Ridley said. He stepped back and Junior walked into the dimly lit room closing the door behind him. Ridley found the naivety pitiful, anywhere else closing that door would have been a fatal mistake. Regardless Junior could offer valuable insight into how Smash Mansion operated despite his lack of overall intelligence. It hadn’t been difficult to realize that Master Hand wasn’t the true leader, he handled recruitment and made the rules but the Smashers all seemed to answer to someone else. However Ridley questioned if someone as naïve as Junior would know who that was.

It looked like Junior wanted to say something from how he kept on mumbling and stopping himself right as he started to talk. Whatever information it was Ridley figured it was worth getting out of him. Except he wasn’t sure how to make people tell him things when torture wasn’t an option. “So after that rough introduction to everyone I could use some friends. Can I meet some of yours?” Ridley asked.

“Oh yeah, follow me,” Junior threw open the door and ran out. Ridley hurried behind him, slamming the door shut on his way out. Dealing with Junior was definitely going to be a headache. When they got to the stairs Ridley opted to jump down to the second floor instead of walking. Junior cheered while Ridley held back the urge to yell at him to be quiet. Their destination was the first door on the right, which turned out to lead into the library.

Despite all the noise cooperating with Junior had already paid off. The library had tall and wide shelves filled with books, plus an assortment of chairs and tables with a few computers. Just from glancing at the different titles Ridley could tell it contained books from all of the different worlds. He would be making good use of the information they contained. Junior scampered over to Corrin, who was sitting in one of the chairs reading a book. Ridley had been hoping Junior would lead him to someone else on his list.

Corrin put the book down and stood up as Ridley walked over to him. “This is Corrin, he’s a prince like me and he can turn into a dragon and he has a cool chainsaw sword,” Junior introduced.

“Hello,” Corrin said. “Have you recovered from that fight with Samus?” 

“She’s done worse,” Ridley said. Corrin was clearly uncomfortable and didn’t seem confident in his own words. Usually Ridley saw that kind of behavior when a subordinate had failed him. He had no idea why Corrin was behaving that way. Ridley had to remind himself that both Junior and Corrin must have been powerful enough to make up for their mental weakness to become Smashers. “What are you the prince of, Corrin?” Ridley asked. For some reason the profile on him had lacked that information.

“That’s actually kind of a complicated question, it’s a long story,” Corrin responded. After a few seconds spent glancing at the chainsaw sword Junior had mentioned Corrin spoke. “Sorry, I should tell the story anyway. It’s the polite thing to do. My twin sister and I were born in the kingdom of Hoshido but were kidnapped as infants and raised by the noble family of Nohr. Of course neither of us knew about that until recently when we ended up meeting my birth family. Things escalated and both of us decided the best thing to do was go here.”

“In other words you were hostages,” Ridley said.

“No,” Corrin yelled. He looked embarrassed and made sure to lower his tone. “Father- the King of Nohr I mean, he and my Nohrian siblings treated us well. I suspect he recently used us for something horrible but I still trust my siblings. I’m not sure I could break their hearts by opposing Nohr. However when I finally met my Hoshidan family they were so overjoyed to have finally found me that I can’t tolerate the thought of taking arms against them either. Kamui, my twin, she feels the same way. So we refused to fight and came here instead,” Corrin said.

“Sounds like you’re just using this place to run from your problems,” Ridley said. Actually saying that was clearly a mistake but it was what Ridley thought and he wasn’t used to diplomacy. Usually he could just force people to do what he wanted. Corrin put his hands together.

“That was true at first but we’ve started working on a plan. I can’t say anything else about it,” Corrin said. “Anyway what brought you here? You must have had your own reason for signing up.”

“I joined to be with my dad,” Junior added. He had spent most of the conversation tapping his foot in boredom.

“I joined to strengthen myself and the Space Pirates. It’s hard to conquer the universe when you keep losing to the same bounty hunter. At this point I may as well just use my forces as snacks for all their worth,” Ridley said with a chuckle. Corrin nervously laughed with him. Ridley crossed jokes off of his mental list of ways to talk with potential allies. “Perhaps we could help each other, I force your bickering relatives to get along at gun point and you help me fight my enemies.” Ridley slashed the air with his right claw.

“You can’t just force people to get along, and I’d like to know who I’d be fighting before accepting a deal like that. I do appreciate the offer, I’ll need all the help I can get,” Corrin said. Officially it was against the rules to meddle with the other worlds, Master Hand been rather clear about that. Fortunately Corrin’s response made it clear that the rule was more of a suggestion. Mowing down humans from a world with primitive technology would be an easy low risk high reward mission.

“Can I help too?” Junior asked.

“If your father lets you I’d be honored to have you as an ally,” Corrin said.

“Oh, speaking of allies my dad said he wants to work with you mister Ridley,” Junior said. He pulled a document out from under his shell and put it on the table. The terms were simple: they would defend each other from invasion and trade resources. Although Ridley loathed to admit it the Space Pirates had always failed to repel anyone who actually made it into one of their home planets. He would have preferred assistance with invasions but wondered if it was worth pushing for. 

“Tell him to meet me in my room at twenty hundred hours,” Ridley said. “I like this but there are other leaders of the Space Pirates and beating them into agreeing with me is just boring at this point.” Corrin gave a nervous laugh assuming it was a joke, it wasn’t. There was an awkward silence between them. Junior put the document back in his shell, Ridley wondered what else was in there. That was when he remembered a certain vital piece of information he lacked. “Master Hand’s just a figure hand, who’s the real leader here? The one you actually listen to.”

“Who we actually listen to?” Corrin muttered to himself. His face lit up like he had made an important break through. “Peach, she organizes almost everything in this mansion. She’s even been able to organize stuff with other worlds, like a family visit day. If you want something done you should go to her first.”

“I’ll make contact with her soon then,” Ridley said.

“I think she should be out by the lake. Anyway I have to go see Kamui now, something you said just gave me an idea,” Corrin said. He picked up his book from the table and left the library. Junior ran off to find his father and waved goodbye as he hurried to the door.

Now that he was by himself Ridley went over his list of likely allies again: the ones he still needed to contact were Kirby, Meta Knight, Mewtwo, Greninja, and now Peach. He hated the idea of interacting with a human in a way that didn’t involve killing them but if Peach was the leader of the Smashers than he had to speak with her at some point.

Ridley made his way down to the first floor and walked to the backdoor. He crossed paths with some of the other Smashers but ignored any and all attempts to start a conversation. When he got outside he extended his wings and ascended up into the sky. There wasn’t much to obstruct Ridley’s vision from the air, he could see a forest but thankfully it was far away from the mansion. The nearby town was small and probably wasn’t worth raiding even if he was allowed to. He flew towards the lake and could make out Peach standing near it, he slowly descended to the ground so he wouldn’t be seen as a threat.

“Hello Ridley I don’t think we’ve properly met yet, my name’s Peach,” she said. “Here to enjoy the view?” Peach’s voice had such a soft quality to it Ridley wondered if she was really the boss. The lake was clear and the sunlight made it shine but Ridley didn’t have an eye for beauty and thus had no appreciation of the sight. So he didn’t look long enough to realize who was under the water. He did take notice of several creatures that he assumed were Pokemon. He considered challenging Peach to forcibly take her authority, he was sure he could win.

“Just felt that I should introduce myself to the true leader of Smash Mansion,” Ridley said. Peach frowned. 

“That’s one way of putting it I suppose. You’re here because you want something, right? Like recruits for the Space Pirates,” Peach said. Her voice had suddenly gained a sharper edge, which made it clear she already knew she was right. Ridley’s mind raced to figure out why she was so confident in that. She must have had something or someone in the library that reported to her.

“Spying on me already I see,” Ridley said. He stood straight up and looked down at Peach, opening his mouth to show off his sharp fangs. Peach’s expression didn’t change at all.

“Oh I used something else to learn about your plans, it won’t be used in the future hopefully. Anyway since you’re so concerned with how things are run you should know that you can consider Mewtwo my right hand man, he may keep to himself but he cares deeply about everyone’s safety,” Peach said. Was she implying Mewtwo had done something? The file on him did state that he had mind reading powers but was only permitted to use them when needed. Like when a new Smasher was considered a possible threat and had taken part in a fight within the mansion. So Mewtwo using his mind reading powers on Ridley made sense.

“If I wanted to I could just kill you here,” Ridley said. Before he could react something had knocked him back. As he landed on the ground a turnip slammed into his face with intense force. Peach put her foot on top of Ridley’s chest and pushed down. Despite her appearance it had enough force to keep him down. Greninja was standing right next to her holding a shuriken made out of water between his hands, a shuriken that was also aimed at Ridley’s neck. It only took a few seconds for Ridley to realize that Greninja had been hiding in the lake the whole time. The whole thing had been a trap.

“I don’t want to be enemies. As long as you keep the fighting outside the mansion you can use your position here to help the Space Pirates. Which is also why Fox has a contract lined up with the Galactic Federation, it’s only fair you both get help from other worlds. I don’t like being mean so I’ll forgive you this time,” Peach said. She was smiling like they were having a meaningless conversation.

“I understand,” Ridley said. Peach and Greninja stepped off of him. Ridley pulled himself up from the ground and flapped his wings to ascend into the air. Then he flew back to Smash Mansion in retreat. He was never going to forgive those two.  
__

After taking the time to explore Smash Mansion Ridley returned to his room. The encounter with Peach weighed on his mind so heavily he hadn’t bothered looking for the other possible allies. He had been outmatched by Peach completely. It was clear he had to use entirely new tactics if he wanted to see any long term success as a Smasher. So he had asked some of the other Smashers about how Peach had become the head of Smash Mansion.

None of the answers he got were what he had expected. Her rise to power had been built on doing favors for others and earning their trust. She was the leader because she had been unofficially elected to the position. None of the people he asked had talked about her cruel side. It baffled him how someone could be considered a leader without any threats of death hanging over their followers.

In other words Smash Mansion operated in a way that was nothing like what Ridley was used to. Previously he had no need of trust when fear was so easily acquired. Now that he was amongst people who could all supposedly beat him in a fight that was no longer an option. Even if the thought of doing something for someone else for no stated reward made him want to throw up it seemed to be how alliances were formed in Smash Mansion. No not alliances they all talked about friendships, a word that brought back uncomfortable memories of the little girl on K-2L.

After much thought and internal debate Ridley had settled on a new plan: spend time with Junior. It sounded hopelessly stupid yet it matched the methods Peach had used to gain her authority. To be powerful in Smash Mansion he needed to have people who would willingly do things for him, and Junior had called him ‘cool’ so that implied some measure of respect. Ridley would help him when he needed help and hope that Junior would do the same for him. That was how Smash Mansion worked so he would play along and when he returned to his world he planned on returning to the methods that worked there.

There was a knock on the door. Bowser had arrived to negotiate their alliance. Ridley reminded himself of the guidelines he had made up for appearing nice as he opened the door. Now that he understood the rules of Smash he was going to succeed even if it meant behaving in an entirely new way. So he shook Bowser’s hand and let him into the room. With any luck the alliance would also become the start of a new friendship.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Writing Ridley has been a massive challenge so I'm glad to finally have this uploaded. The Metroid wiki has been a useful source for lore I didn't know about before writing this chapter so thank you Metroid wiki. I feel bad for having Ridley be abused so much in this chapter but someone like Ridley would only accept a neutral ground like Smash Mansion after being beaten into it, and the other Smashers aren't just going to let him destroy their peace. Now that he's not violating the unofficial peace treaty any future appearances won't have him get beat up. You can expect at least one more appearance from Ridley in this fic if we get Dark Samus as an echo fighter, which I'm hoping for.


End file.
